Cottingham Road pavements

John Fareham and John Abbott have secured further pavement reinstatements on Cottingham Road covering part of the section between the two entrances to Newland Park. This follows on from the work already undertaken to reinstate pavements on Cottingham Road further towards Cottingham and forms part of our ongoing programme of pavement maintenance. This section of pavement, of course, includes the place where students catch buses to Cottingham and we consider it important for their perception of Hull, whether they stay here after their studies as we did or go off to prosper somewhere else, that the one bit of pavement they see the most of during their three years here should be kept in good order. We do of course also share local residents’ concern for the state of the grass verges and are continuing to work with the officers to find a solution that will be both practicable and acceptable to all concerned.

Cropton Park play equipment

John Fareham and John Abbott report that orders have been placed for the new play and other equipment for Cropton Park and that installation work began early in September. A special meeting of Wyke Area Committee early in August approved the funding for this work to take place. Since then the officers have been talking to the companies that will be doing the work and they said work would commence on the 9th and would take approximately two weeks. This we were most impressed with as the fourth phase of refurbishing Cropton Park could turn out to have taken only a little over a month – a remarkable turn of speed in local government terms.

Hotham Road North tree trimming

John Fareham and John Abbott have once again secured the trimming back of undergrowth around Hotham Road North trees. The correct scientific name for the things sticking up like tank-traps from the roots of these trees is ‘epicormic growth’ but the political term may well be ‘recurring nuisance’ since we arranged to have these growths cut back last year. On receiving reports from local residents asking that the work be repeated both of us contacted the officers and were both firm in our request that something be done, not least because of the child safety implications. We were given to understand by the officers that some consideration was being given to scheduling the work but we were then informed by local residents that the work had been carried out. It goes without saying that if the problem recurs – either next week or next year – we will stand ready to ask the officers to get out the trimming equipment and take the necessary action. We will also look into why certain sections of the street have been missed out.

Allderidge Avenue relighting

John Fareham and John Abbott have allocated funds for the relighting of Allderidge Avenue with traditional-style street lights. The new lights are to be funded from reallocated Community Safety fund money and will be traditional rather than modern in design in response to the overwhelming preference expressed by local residents for that kind of design. They will look somewhat like the ones in Mead Road near Anlaby Park but we have impressed on the officers that street lamps like those would be too tall for Allderidge Avenue and we want shorter ones installing here. This is of course part of the long-term strategy we have in place to relight the whole ward to modern luminescence levels in the belief that good street lighting improves community safety and goes some way towards deterring crime.

Bricknell Avenue road markings

John Fareham and John Abbott have secured undertakings that the reinstated road markings on Bricknell Avenue will be checked for accuracy in the interests of public safety. We have received complaints from local residents to the effect that, as repainted after the recent road and resurfacing works, these markings now removed the boundary between car parking spaces and the cycle lane, rendering cyclists vulnerable to accidents should they happen to be passing a car when someone opened its door. John and I have therefore asked the officers to check whether this is indeed the case and we have received an undertaking that an officer of the Council will be out to check that the markings are as they should be. The officers have worked out what needs to be done in order to put them straight and in some places have changed the position of the lines.